When faced with a masked person, children aged 3 to 5 correctly identify their emotions in only 40% of cases.
- Young children have difficulty understanding the emotions of people wearing a surgical mask.
- This could interfere with the proper development of their ability to interact socially.
- In France, wearing a mask is compulsory from the age of 6.
What will be the long-term consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic? Italian researchers fear that it harms the proper development of children. In Frontiers in Psychology, they demonstrate that wearing a mask diminishes their ability to understand emotions. Compared to other age groups, children aged 3 to 5 have more difficulty determining whether a person is sad or happy when wearing a mask.
A study carried out at the start of the pandemic
The researchers from the Italian Institute of Technology recruited a total of 119 people for their study: among them, there were 31 children aged 3 to 5, 49 children aged 6 to 8, and 39 adults aged 18 to 30. . The scientists submitted images of masked and unmasked individuals to them. Each participant had to identify the emotions on their face to determine whether they looked happy, sad, fearful or angry. “The experiment was carried out at the start of the 2020 pandemicexplains Monica Gori, one of the authors of this study. At that time, the masks were still a new experience for everyone.“But they presented a greater difficulty for young children: according to the study’s findings, adults managed to identify the characters’ emotions in 70 to 80% of cases, while 3-5 year olds succeeded in only 40% of cases For 6-8 year olds, between 55 and 65% of emotions were correctly identified on masked people.
How to help children?
For the authors of this work, it is necessary to conduct studies on the wearing of the mask and its consequences in the years to come, with a particular interest in its impact on the interaction capacities of children. Before that, it is important to set up tools to help children better understand emotions: either by using transparent masks, allowing the expressions of the mouth to be seen, or by teaching them to decipher the emotions in the eyes.
A summer without a mask outside?
Several countries have lifted the requirement to wear masks outdoors, including the United States and Israel. In France, it is still compulsory, but for how long? “I think it will be very difficult to keep the mask on after June 30declared the president of the Scientific Council Jean-François Delfraissy, on RTLTuesday, June 8. You have to be reasonable, people who are in the countryside, who are going to be on the beaches, who are going for a walk, are going to say ‘well, wait for the experts, stop, we are able to wear the mask where it is necessary‘.” For the time being, the members of the executive have not announced an end date for the obligation to wear a mask outdoors. All keep their eyes glued to the circulation curves of the virus.
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